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A government shutdown looms over the nation yet again and the fearmongers are out in full force to prepare us for the horrors. Loaded words like “looms” or “looming” are meant to strike fear in the hearts of the sheep who believe the government makes it all work. Hint: we make it all work. Check out the title of the New York Times article I used as a launch pad for this post: “A Shutdown Is Looming. What Comes Next?”. It’s like Megatron looming over Optimus Prime. Looming is always, always negative. Looming is never pleasant.
IF the government shutdown comes to fruition, the date will be October 1, 2023. I hate the stupid reindeer games that the Congressional Mental Midgets play, on both sides as they work hard to avoid making decisions and choices that my lose them their cushy Washington, D.C. sinecures. That’s what this is all about. The Critters on both sides don’t want to make hard choices about dividing up our money. If these simpleton public servants avoid a shutdown, it certainly won’t benefit the taxpayers.
The opening paragraphs of Zach Montague’s Times article shocked me:
The White House has begun advising federal agencies to prepare for a government shutdown as Republican lawmakers have shown no signs of progress in negotiations to keep the government funded beyond this week.
The United States has experienced 21 gaps in government funding since 1976, leading to varying degrees of disruption. Under a worst-case scenario, the White House is warily eyeing a repeat of 2018, the longest and most recent shutdown, which sidelined roughly 800,000 of the federal government’s 2.1 million employees for 34 days.
The Federal government has 2.1 million employees. What in Satan’s typing pool do they all do? I get “letter carriers” and other postal employees. But, I looked it up. There are less than 6,000 postal employees. What does everyone else do? The military is not included in these government employees. I am appalled. They all can’t be food inspectors.
Who gets laid off? From the article:
For hundreds of thousands of federal employees, that means either being furloughed while the government is closed, or continuing to work without pay.
For the public, that typically means dealing with interruptions to a variety of government services and facing a range of inconveniences and disruptions to daily life.
In recent days, the White House has spotlighted several government programs that could cause more severe issues if suspended, in particular the nutrition and immunization assistance given out through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. If funding lapses, the White House has said nearly seven million women and children could lose critical access to food, and the federal contingency fund to keep the program running could run dry within days.
By golly, it sure took Mr. Montague a while to get there. The SNAP program will be affected. Well, sign an Executive Order. Take it out of the money you have promised to Ukraine. As Nina wrote the other day, Volodymyr Zelensky will still get his grift if the government shuts down. By the time Volodymyr realizes he is missing that drop in the bucket, Joe Biden will be offering another tranche of money. Meh.
Because Joe Biden sees himself as the personal White Savior of Black Folk, he used them as part of his scare tactics yesterday:
Racist in Chief says the 'black community' will suffer if a US government shutdown occurs pic.twitter.com/otU8bQID60
— Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) September 25, 2023
What a flipping racist. You will be very happy (sarc) to know that the grasping grifters in Congress still get paid:
Yes.
In Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, compensation for members of Congress is differentiated from that of most federal workers.
“The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States,” that section reads.
In addition, the language of the 27th Amendment, which prohibits any law “varying the compensation for the services of the senators and representatives” until the next election, is often interpreted as a constitutional requirement that lawmakers be paid on time.
Salaries for members of Congress are funded by a permanent appropriations account that does not require renewal every year.
Why should they get paid if they are not doing their jobs? I bet the language of the 27th Amendment has never been tested. But none of it matters because if Congress could get laid off, they would be paid when the government shutdown is over. Like this:
Furloughed employees will get back pay once Congress passes and the president signs a new appropriations bill or a continuing resolution.
Employees who worked overtime or earned other premium pay can typically also claim those extra wages once the shutdown ends.
It’s all a performance anyway. Threats while they play around. Threats and fear. Hear Norah O’Donnell does her best to scare the sheep:
Wait. Now, there are 4 million Federal employees? What the freak. I am with President Trump. Shut it down until we get the cuts we need.
The Democrat Media Industrial Complex has got to quit with the “looming”. They may be Megatron, but we are Optimus Prime. We’re smaller, more agile and we think better. Loom over this, baby.
Featured Image: reivax/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons
Bucky says: It’s the Shutdown Kabuki Dance where Dems and Reps pretend that the gummint may actually grind to a halt. In fact about 98% of gummint activity would continue to run on auto pilot. The Dem propaganda media will show clips of national parks shut down and disappointed visitors whinging about their “once in a lifetime” vacation trip being ruined. Meantime the “opponents” retire to the cocktail lounge for a drink together.
Cameron says: Govvie contractor here. I simply don’t care. I can get work in other places and being out of a job for a while doesn’t scare me.
I want cuts on the level of “brutal.” I want the government reduced to a size where we could drown them in the bathtub if necessary and we do just that every once in a while to remind them we can.
Meanwhile, I’m on vacation until next week. I’m sure the country will still be in one piece.
Liz says: We currently depend on disability and retirement payments right now with my spouse on disability until the foreseeable future. And I agree 100 percent. Shut it all down.
GWB says: I would hope that your social structure: church, friends, etc. – is pondering how to support you if things turn stupider (actual shut down).
Liz says: Heh, thanks. 🙂
We will be okay. We’ve always lived well below our means and saved for emergencies.
I worry about the young people.
We’ll see what happens.
GWB says: a size where we could drown them in the bathtub if necessary
Here, hear!
GWB says: If funding lapses, the White House has said nearly seven million women and children could lose critical access to food
In a free republic this would not be possible. Because in a free republic the gov’t couldn’t be the source of people’s sustenance. They’d either have to get help from their neighbors or get to work. This is not an indictment of the Republicans who won’t fund the gov’t. It’s an indictment of the gov’t that has accrued way too much power and authority to itself.
the ‘black community’ will suffer
Oh my, yes. Because only the gov’t can protect the black from the world and white people, who will otherwise starve and enslave him. Once again answering the question, “Who’s yer daddy?” with “Why, the government, of course!” (If the gov’t was really their daddy, why didn’t he spank them more growing up, and tell them to get a friggin’ job? That’s what all the decent dads I knew would tell you.)
Salaries for members of Congress are funded by a permanent appropriations account that does not require renewal every year.
Huh. That seems in violation of the Constitution, where appropriations seem to be required every year.
And, of course, my balanced budget amendment would not only stop that, but it would actually remove all funding from Congress (and the White House) to pay any salaries otherwise affected by a budget shutdown. (Along with the elimination of all omnibus bills, “reconciliation”, required reading days for legislation, and a gutting of the commerce clause.)
Furloughed employees will get back pay
As they were not doing their jobs.
Mind you, I’m taking this hard line as someone who will be affected if the reverse strike goes on long enough. Our contract is funded for the first month or so. And the company has said nothing about “Don’t worry, your paychecks will continue” or “We’ll provide back pay when we get re-funded” or any of that. We don’t even get (as I did on one contract) a determination of “essential” or not.
GWB says: I will toss one thing out, Toni.
Yes, the Congress should be doing their jobs. But I don’t apply that to them passing some giant gob-o-money bill.
I say they’re failing to do their jobs by actually cutting un-Constitutional offices/agencies, ensuring the budget is reasonable and not merely “last year + 2%,” and fighting for principles that actually equate to good, limited government.
We need to enforce that before we can even think of eliminating our annual budget theater.
[…] Musings: Finally, Conscious Choice, Color Blindness, and SLS Flight Rate Victory Girls: Looming Government Shutdown 2023 Volokh Conspiracy: Hoover’s “Good Fellows” on the Supreme Court’s Recent […]
alanstorm says: “Furloughed employees will get back pay once Congress passes and the president signs a new appropriations bill or a continuing resolution.
Employees who worked overtime or earned other premium pay can typically also claim those extra wages once the shutdown ends.”
No. No back pay. That’s essentially saying “You get an extra paid vacation this year!” I understand that even government employees may be living paycheck-to-paycheck, that doesn’t mean they should be immune from the risks private-sector workers face.
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